WORCESTER — They've been called the four most famous notes in all of music.

The opening of Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 in C Minor immediately announces victory, struggle, worlds colliding or whatever tempestuous associations or otherwise you might have with those first four notes that will be repeated and reverberate throughout the first movement.

There is, of course, a lot more to what is one of the most famous, electrifying and ultimately triumphant symphonies in all of music as mood, tone and energy change over the course of a total of four brilliant movements.

"Whenever I conduct it I understand why the symphony is so famous over the centuries," said Kirill Karabits, conductor of the Weimar Symphony Orchestra of Germany, which will be performing Beethoven's 5th at Mechanics Hall on March 1 as part of a program presented by Music Worcester Inc.

"There's an energy that builds up through the movements," Karabits said during a recent telephone interview from Germany before the orchestra departed for its North American tour. "It's not just beautiful music, it's a buildup of energy. That's what makes people want to hear it again and again. You can't get tired of it," he said.

Born in what was then the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, Karabits has gone on to have a distinguished career as a conductor even though at 41 he is still relatively young. He has been the principal conductor of the renowned Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra in England since 2009 and was appointed general music director and conductor of the Staatskapelle Weimar (Symphony Orchestra) effective with the 2016-17 season.

Karabits said that when he first started conducting Beethoven's 5th, "the most difficult thing was to do the beginning properly."

Those four notes have to sound right. "How do you beat the beginning? ... I'm sure there's not just one way of conducting it and interpreting it. It's a a piece for life. You can always find something new. I try to do it as simple as possible. I don't do any extra upbeats. I'm only doing the simple gestures that help musicians play," Karabits said.

Some people have attached political meaning to the first four notes, as well as the rest of the symphony, which was first performed in 1808 when Europe was in turmoil.

"Well it will never be political for me," Karabits said. "I imagine you can make politics out of everything. I don't think Beethoven was thinking politics when he was writing it. He was influenced by politics in his life, but it's not the politics that interested him but the human being and the development of the human being and the will to be free. That's why that piece is so great."

Karabits noted, "I'm a product of the Soviet Union. Politicians always go and then new ones come. Whenever you are linking your music to a particular time you risk (that) your music disappears when they disappear. But human ideas, they will always be universal." Beethoven's 5th "speaks to you because he is referring to the problems that are universal."

The Weimar Symphony Orchestra last performed Beethoven's 5th in Munich about "a week ago," Karabits said.

"Next time it will be in Worcester."

By March 1 the orchestra will be into what is its first North American tour, and also "I think it's probably the longest tour they've ever done," Karabits said. The orchestra was scheduled to leave Germany on Feb. 21, and the tour will consist of 18 concerts.

Also on the program for Worcester March 1 is Richard Strauss' "Don Juan" and Brahms' Violin Concerto in D Major, with Valeriy Sokolov, guest violin soloist. Karabits said he has worked with Sokolov often in the past, and the two have a good understanding with each other. "He's a colleague of mine."

The Weimar Symphony Orchestra is the oldest orchestra in Germany, Karabits said. The orchestra has a document that shows it was in existence in 1491. "A year before America was discovered," he pointed out.

So the North American tour has been a long time coming.

"Everybody's very enthusiastic, very excited and looking forward to it," Karabits said.

The orchestra has had plenty of notable musical associations at home over the centuries. J.S. Bach was a resident organist and kapellmeister, and Franz Liszt led the orchestra as he championed the music of Richard Wagner, Hector Berlioz and Peter Cornelius, enhancing its prestige. Concert and opera programming became part of the season, and Richard Strauss debuted "Don Juan" with the Weimar opera orchestra.

Meanwhile, in 1919 after World War I and the end of the German monarchy, a national assembly was convened in the city of Weimar, where a new constitution was written and adopted. Germany was unofficially known as the Weimar Republic. The orchestra mirrored the fate of the republic. Ernst Praetorius was the director and conductor of the orchestra from 1924 to 1933, but left the post after the Nazis came to power because his wife was Jewish. Karabits is the 11th music director since 1945.

"We're trying hard to do projects that will develop the orchestra," Karabits said. Already during his tenure the orchestra has made two recordings and tours regularly in Germany. The current tour is the first international tour with Karabits leading the orchestra.

"So it's an important step. For me what's also fascinating, you can be so close to the orchestra over a long period of time. For me it's not the first time traveling to the U.S. I've been many times. But I'm looking forward to establishing a closer connection with the musicians."

Karabits has had a close connection with music from an early age thanks in part to his late father, Ivan Karabyts, a composer who also conducted, although "he didn't consider himself a conductor," his son said.

However, "yes, he influenced me. I was influenced by his music and his activities," Karabits said. More particularly, he was drawn to conducting around the age of 12 because "it's the sound of the orchestra which fascinated me."

He studied at the Lysenko Music School, the National Tchaikovsky Music Academy and the Vienna Musikhochschule and earned a diploma in orchestral conducting. He made his first public conducting appearance when he was 19. In 2006 he was a guest conductor for a concert with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra that received great acclaim.

The Bournemouth and Weimar orchestras have completely different ways of functioning, Karabits said.

"Different traditions, different fundraising ... The (Weimar) orchestra was always interesting to me because they also do opera, so that's an important part of my activities to do opera."

His appointment "was an unexpected proposal for me, but the idea of becoming a music director in a German theater I always found very interesting," he said.

The Deustsche Nationaltheater in Weimar is where the orchestra has its home base. Weimar is now a relatively small city of 60,000 people but it supports the orchestra - just as it has since 1491.

"It's fascinating," Karabits said. Concerts are "very well attended and everyone feels that it is a very important organization in the city. The tradition is just simply there."

Contact Richard Duckett at richard.duckett@telegram.com. Follow him on Twitter @TGRDuckett

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